A flood of counterfeit notes from Dubai, Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir, Nepal, Bangladesh, and to some extent from Sri Lanka have left Indians swimming in a pool of devalued rupees.
The fake Indian currency note crisis is benefiting terrorist organizations such as Hizbul Mujahideen and Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Gang with backing from the Pakistani ISI spy service. Profits from counterfeiting help militants buy weapons.
There seems to be a new story from Indian media every two weeks or so documenting the surging problem. Here’s the latest from the Times of India, which illustrates both the J&K and Bangladeshi points of ingress for bogus bills, and the jihadist beneficiaries:
NIA files charges against 3 for raising terror funds for Hizbul Mujahideen
TNN Apr 12, 2013
NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed charge sheet against three more persons, including a Bangladeshi national, for allegedly raising terror fund for the banned outfit Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) through circulation of fake Indian currency notes (FICN) in Jammu & Kashmir.
The charge sheet against the three accused Badal Sheikh and Fayaz Ahmed (both Indians) and Shafiq-ul (Bangladeshi) was filed in the NIA Special Court in Jammu under various sections of the Ranbir Penal Code and the central anti-terror Act on Wednesday.
The Court subsequently issued a non-bailable warrant against absconding Shafiq-ul who was key point person of the Indian accused for supplying FICN through a trans-border cattle smuggler – Badal Sheikh — of West Bengal’s Malda district.
Earlier, the probe agency had filed charge sheet against five persons in the case, alleging that the accused used to procure and supply high quality FICN from Bangladesh and smuggle it into Jammu & Kashmir for raising funds for the terror group.
The five who were charge sheeted earlier include two HM members – Mubarak Ahmed Bhat and Shafaqat Mohiudding Kuchey – and Badal Sheikh.
The NIA in its charge sheet claimed that HM operatives had first contacted Badal who, in turn, approached the Bangladeshi national for procurement of FICN.
“Fayaz Ahmed Rather – a notorious FICN smuggler – started getting high quality fake Indian currency notes from Malda and circulate it in Jammu & Kashmir,” said the NIA.
It’s interesting to note the cattle rustling connection in this story. The black market in cows, which are revered and illegal to export from India, is a growing area for illicit trade along the border of India and Bangladesh.
Police probe Kouachi’s counterfeit connections
January 20, 2015“Sales of counterfeit goods by Charlie Hebdo attacker Cherif Kouachi helped fund the purchase of weapons,” according to a CNN source. The LA Times reports that Cherif Kouachi began “trafficking in counterfeit clothing and shoes” after his release from jail.
The revelations point to an additional, possible source of revenue behind the terrorist attacks in Paris against Charlie Hebdo’s offices and the Hyper Cacher kosher grocery beyond what has previously been reported. Cherif Kouachi is also said to have received $20,000 from AQAP before leaving Yemen, and fellow terror cell member Amedy Coulibaly purchased several of the weapons used during the attacks drawing from a $7,000 personal loan and possibly by trading in a car. Weapons possessed by the Kouachi brothers and Coulibaly had a reported street value of 27,000 euros.
An associate of Cherif Kouachi, Fritz-Joly Joachim, was arrested in Bulgaria earlier this year, and has since been charged with conspiring with Kouachi in terrorism. A Muslim convert from Haiti with French citizenship, Joachim was arrested while trying to cross the border into Turkey for possible follow-on travel into Syria. Joachim told French television that his dealings with Kouachi were strictly business: “We sold clothes together, shoes, it was just a business connection.” The reporter who interviewed him amplified on those comments, telling Radio Bulgaria that the Kouachi-Joachim business was “re-sale of clothes and shoes across Paris suburbs.”
Connecting the dots between all the reports, it is probable that investigators believe that Kouachi and Joachim were selling knockoffs, and that the money Kouachi made from the sales ultimately helped supplement the funding of the Paris attacks. This wouldn’t be the first time that counterfeit clothes in Europe have been exploited by Islamists: two imams were arrested in for their involvement in a multi-million dollar counterfeit clothing operation in Spain in December 2013.
That being said, while investigators pour over the details of Cherif Kouachi’s finances, we shouldn’t lose sight of the bigger picture of money and training by AQAP in Yemen.
Posted in News commentary | Tagged Amedy Coulibaly, Bulgaria, Charlie Hebdo, Cherif Kouachi, counterfeit, France, Fritz-Joly Joachim | 1 Comment »